This invention relates to enabler covers for hospital or nursing home bed rails.
Hospital beds traditionally had some type of collapsible side rail on each side of the mattress, so that a patient on the bed cannot inadvertently roll off of the bed and receive serious injuries from a fall to the floor. Padded covers, bumper wedges and the like also are used with the bed-rails to improve the comfort and safety of patients in long-term care facilities.
One recent development is a padded gap protector that provides zero clearance no matter what the articulated position of the bed is. The pad remains in compression with the mattress and closes the gap between the mattress and side rails. The pad provides a zero gap when the mattress is in a horizontal position and when the mattress is secured in an articulate position such as an elevated position. The gapless bed rail pads are described in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 60/198,591 filed Apr. 19, 2000, and Ser. No. 09/809,881 filed Mar. 16, 2001 both of which are herein incorporated by reference. This application issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,422 on Feb. 19, 2002.
Another need exists for hand rails used with hospital and nursing home beds. The industry often refers to these hand rails as grab bars, positioning bars and the like.
The hand rails prevent, to some extent, a resident from falling out of bed. Internal bed positioning or assistance into and out of bed is the major use. Hand rails typically have a tubular frame which mounts to the bed frame. The hand rails may rotate up to 360xc2x0 and lock into a number of positions. The hand rails, however, have an open center with the tubular frame circumscribing the opening. During operation or in a stationary position, a limb or other body part should not extend through the opening. As a result, a need remains for improving these hand rails.
This enabler cover for use with hand rails on a bed comprises a pad which fits around the rails of the hand rails. The pad, including a cover material, defines an interior space formed of the material. The material is flexible, non-abrasive and substantially resistant to penetration by an appendage of a person. The pad also includes a foam material filling the interior space defined by the cover material. Further, the cover material includes a means for enabling the enabler cover to fit around the rails of the hand rails. A mesh cover then covers any opening in the hand rails.